| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8 Sept 2003 : Column 254W—continued
Pregnancy-related Deaths
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have died in each of the last 10 years from pregnancy-related causes. [128400]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department does not collect the information in the format requested. However, the table, taken from the latest report on the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom (CEMD), shows the direct and indirect maternal deaths and mortality rates per 100,000 maternities reported to Registrars and the CEMD; United Kingdom, for each triennium since 1988.
| Triennium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988–90 | 1991–93 | 1994–96 | 1997–99 | |
| Maternal deaths known to Registrars General | ||||
| Number | 172 | 150 | 175 | 142 |
| Rate | 7.3 | (74)6.5 | (75)8.0 | (76)6.7 |
| Direct deaths known to inquiry | ||||
| Number | 145 | 128 | 134 | 106 |
| Rate | 6.2 | 5.5 | 6.1 | 5.0 |
| Indirect deaths known to inquiry | ||||
| Number | 93 | 100 | 134 | 136 |
| Rate | 4.0 | 4.3 | 6.1 | 6.4 |
| Total known to inquiry | ||||
| Number | 238 | 228 | 268 | 242 |
| Rate | 10.1 | 9.8 | 12.2 | 11.4 |
| Total maternities | ||||
| Number | 2,347,529 | 2,317,328 | 2,197,640 | 2,123,614 |
(74) Final ONS revised figures for 1991–93: the rate available at the time for the publication of the 1991–93 report was 6.0.
(75) England and Wales figures for 1994 now include underlying cause and mentions (ICD9 630–676).
(76) The rate for 1994–96 in the previous report was 7.4.
Private Health Services
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of private beds available in national health service trust hospitals. [127356]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) on 30 June 2003, Official Report, column 164W.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) Department of Health and (b) NHS employees are entitled to private medical care as an employment benefit. [127687]
Mr. Hutton: Both the locally negotiated terms and conditions of service for employees of the Department of Health, and the nationally negotiated terms and conditions for staff working in the National Health Service make no provision for any entitlement to private medical care.
8 Sept 2003 : Column 255W
Professional Negligence
Mr. Dorrell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid to cover professional negligence claims on Leicestershire hospitals in each year since 1997–98; and what proportion each sum represented of those hospital budgets. [127268]
Dr. Ladyman: This information is not collected.
Psychotropic Medication
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has given to local specialist services for people with severe challenging behaviours on the use of (a) educational, (b) behavioural, (c) environmental and (d) dietary stategies in preference to psychotropic medication. [127859]
Dr. Ladyman: The report of the Mansell Committee (HMSO) 1993) provided guidance aon services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Our White Paper "Valuing People" (Cm 5086), published in March 2001, notes that psychotropic medication may be very effective if someone has an underlying psychiatric disorder but points out that there is concern that too often this medication is used as an alternative to adequate staffing. The interventions to be used will depend on the individual situation and the factors that are contributing to the nature and severity of the behaviours that occur.
Public Bodies
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many agencies his Department has created since May 1997; what their purpose is; and how many staff each employs. [127504]
Mr. Hutton: The Department has created two executive agencies since 1997. The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency was set up on 1 April 2000, with staff transferred from the Department of Health. The agency's purpose is to modernise and improve the performance of the national health service purchasing and supply system, and become and centre of expertise, knowledge and excellence on matters of purchasing and supply for the NHS. The agency negotiates national contracts for the benefit of the NHS in England. The agency has 314.5 whole-time equivalent members of staff.
The Department created the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 1 April 2003 following the decision to merge the Medicines Control Agency and the Medical Devices Agency. The MHRA is responsible for the regulation of medicinal products and medical devices in the United Kingdom. It also represents national interests in the regulation of these sectors at European level. The number of staff employed by the MHRA as at 1 April 2003 was estimated to be 644.
Racial Harassment
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what action his Department is taking to tackle racial harassment in NHS workplaces; [127358]
8 Sept 2003 : Column 256W
- (2) what steps he is taking to eradicate racism in the NHS. [127734]
Mr. Hutton: Linked to improving working lives we have the national positively diverse programme to support employers in working towards eradicating racism in the national health service.
One hundred and seventy NHS organisations are taking part in the national programme, with 10 lead sites exploring, developing and disseminating practical ways of managing diversity in the NHS for the benefit of both staff and users of the service in the health care work force.
The development of black and minority ethnic networks at local (trust) and regional levels has also been actively encouraged with seed funding being provided by the Department of Health.
Redundancies
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff have been made redundant in the NHS as a consequence of the reorganisation of area health authorities into strategic health authorities. [117191]
Mr. Hutton: Over 20,000 staff from health authorities and regional offices of the Department of Health transferred employment into primary care trusts and new strategic health authorities on 1 April 2002. In order to minimise redundancies and to ensure that valuable skills are not lost to the national health service all staff were guaranteed employment for a 12-month period ending 31 March 2003. At the end of this period 234 staff had been unable to find a suitable post and were made redundant and/or took early retirement.
Research
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to ensure that all public funded research is recorded and made freely available to (a) patients, (b) health professionals, (c) the public and (d) members of the scientific community. [127870]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department funds the National Research Register (NRR) and the Research Findings electronic Register (ReFeR). The NRR is a database of ongoing and recently completed research projects funded by, or of interest to, the National Health Service. The ReFeR is a database of findings from the NHS research and development programme and the Department's policy research programme. Both registers can be accessed through the Department's R and D website at www.doh.gov.uk/research.
The national electronic Library for health provides health professionals and the public (through NHS Direct Online) with knowledge and know-how to support health care related decisions. The electronic Library for social care makes knowledge available to social care practitioners, managers, service users and carers.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of Department of Health research funding was spent on research into (a) heart disease, (b) obesity, (c) strokes and (d) arthritis in the last 12 months. [127706]
8 Sept 2003 : Column 257W
Miss Melanie Johnson: The main agency through which the Government support medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology. Available figures for 2001–02 are shown in the following table. Disease-specific spend data for 2002–03 is still being collated and figures will be available in the autumn.
| MRC spend in 2001–02 | £ million |
|---|---|
| Circulatory disease | 26.3 |
| Obesity | 2.1 |
| Stroke | 3.9 |
| Arthritis and rheumatism | 4.2 |
The Department funds research to support policy and the delivery of effective practice in the NHS. Spend by the Department's national research programmes in the four subject areas is shown in the following table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Heart disease | 1.4 |
| Obesity | 0.1 |
| Stroke | 0.6 |
| Arthritis | 0.3 |
Management of much of the research supported by national health service research and development funding is devolved and expenditure at project level is not held centrally by the Department. The Department also provides support for research commissioned by charities and the research councils that takes place in the NHS.
Annual figures for net spend on research and development by the MRC and the Department are published in "The Forward Look 2003" which is available on the Office of Science and Technology website at www.ost.gov.uk/research/forwardlook03.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |